This investigation is primarily aimed at providing detailed information to aid in our understanding of positive control and post-transcriptional regulation in a viral (lysogenic) system that has features in common with malignant transformation by oncogenic viruses. Our principal objectives are: (1) to continue our studies on positive control at the transcriptional level; we will determine if a unique positive control regulator, the gene N product of the virus, stimulates RNA transcription in addition to acting as an anti-terminator of RNA transcription. (2) to describe the biochemical events in the multi-step programming of RNA processing and subsequent decay and (3) to establish the role of these RNA processing events in the development of the virus.